Open Studio, day 2

The (garage) door to my open studio opened slightly ahead of time and I was able to bask in the morning sun for a while before the first visitors arrived. Today was a busier day, though there was a quiet period from about 1pm to 3pm.

Again, there were one or two familiar faces, however many new visitors appeared too, a significant proportion coming specifically to my exhibition. However, many commented on the benefit of having two studios open at the same time, close to one another, and that this was also a major deciding factor. Several independent groups came from St Ives. The furthest origin was from New Zealand, a couple visiting and accompanying their mother who lives in the county.

I was delighted that one young man had seen the invitation to come wearing headgear and be photographed, outlined on my Cambridge Open Studios website entry. He had brought a Fez – I forgot to ask if this was in response to the Dr Who episode featuring one – and wore it unselfconsciously and confidently for the photograph.

A number of parents with mature progeny were also willing to be photographed, mainly mothers and daughters, but I was pleased to also have a father and his two daughters.

The latter had arrived just 10 minutes before the planned close of the studio and it transpired that I was the last visit of a busy day. The two daughters were still college students. Yet they still had such a lively interest and curiosity, that our conversations continued to well after 18:30. It was so refreshing and rewarding, as usually it is the parents that are more vocal, with the youths being more tongue tied.

All in all, there were 57 visitors over the weekend, 19 on Saturday and 38 today. There was lively interest and discussion of the subjects portrayed, however, as in previous years, purchases were on low value items such as postcards. People are also taking the student notes and polarisation info sheet, many of them not students.

The last days of an era are in progress. The last ever space shuttle mission blasted off for space on Friday and docked with the international space station today.